Catheter Insertion Simulation for Epidural Anesthesia and Spinal Tap

"Immersion Medical aims to establish the feasibility of a medical training simulator for epidural anesthesia and spinal tap. The proposed project involves several technical advances to Immersion's pre-existing simulator for needlestick procedures. Wepropose a haptic computer touchpad as an innovative solution to the palpation of anatomical landmarks. Active force feedback will be developed as well as controlled passive haptics to provide realistic procedural feel in the manipulation of needles,catheters and syringes. Planned software advances include refinements in computer modeling for surface deformation and for the interaction of rigid needles and catheters with body tissues that are pliant (e.g., dura mater) and rigid (e.g., bone). Sixexternal experts will evaluate the completed prototype for perceptual realism. In success, the completed simulator will be a real-time training device that integrates visual, haptic and audio features and will be operable on a laptop computer for enhancedportability. Epidural anesthesia and lumbar puncture are procedures for which advanced training has important implications in both military and civilian medicine. Creating a simulator for these procedures has numerous advantages for the trainee, including:no risk to patients, no risk to trainees (e.g., no exposure to patient blood-borne pathogens), familiarity and comfort with the procedure through repetition, exposure to various cases, and built-in